WL 363 - Sunday May 13 – 10pm
Purveyors of: Harpies Attack!

A Flotilla is a group of naval ships moving together. It's also a band from Montreal that incorporates a harp into its lineup. Kat Burns corresponded with multi-instrumentalist Geof Holbrook to get the scoop on this particular group of ships.

An introduction to the band!

Veronica writes the songs, sings, and plays a shiny red guitar, she loves music and words, and shiny guitars. I arrange the songs, play keyboards and bass and drums sometimes. I am a classical composer by trade and yearn to escape the stuffiness of recital halls. Eveline plays the harp and runs it through effects. She plays the occasion solo (read: shreds). Benoit is our drummer, he's a new addition to the band.

You have a harp in your band. How has that changed the mood and/or dynamics of songwriting?

The first version of the band was a duo of Eveline and Veronica [on harp and guitar, respectively]. I think at the beginning it made us pretty quiet, just out of necessity because the harp is hard to amplify. But we have a great pick-up for the harp now, so it can compete with loud drums and guitars ... so we've become a lot louder.

How do you carry it on tour?

It's tricky - all the gear goes into a compact SUV. We kind of put the harp in and then suffocate it with amps and guitars and drums.

Some of you studied classical and avant-garde music in university how do you find this affects your melody and song structures?

Veronica did a degree in jazz voice. I think that makes her sort of flexible with her melody writing. Eveline is classically trained, and I studied avant-garde stuff in university, which makes me want to make everything weirder all the time. I think that makes its way into the sound, if the others let it.

Where did the name Flotilla come from?

Dictionary, Desperation. It strikes us as positive, vaguely, as long as you forget the war connotation. Oh, and "flotilla" also refers to the Louisiana pastime of floating in upside-down life preservers, while drinking. But that is only a coincidence.

What does this summer hold for Flotilla?

We're going to slow down with the shows, and record our second album. In September we're going to play a series of launch shows in Quebec and Ontario.
 
By Kat Burns